Biography of Imran Khan -Abrar Hamim

Imran Khan was born on October 5, 1952 in Lahore, Pakistan. He decided to become a Test cricketer when he was just 9 years old while watching a Test match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore holding his mother’s hand. Since then, he made his debut for Pakistan at the age of 18 in a Test series against England in 1971! His cricketing journey continued. In the meantime, he graduated from the world-famous Oxford University in 1975. Along with sports, he continued his studies, even after completing his studies, he played international cricket for another 17 years. In the middle, he retired from cricket in 1987 due to various personal difficulties including injury and death of his mother, but at the request of various people including the president of the country, he returned to cricket and at the age of 42 he retired from a long 22-year cricket career in 1992 after winning the first World Cup as the captain of Pakistan.
After finishing cricket, he got married in 1993 to Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of the famous British businessman Goldsmith. Imran Khan decided long ago what to do after finishing cricket. Although he acclimated himself to the western culture at the beginning of his playing career, Imran unwanted a drastic change after the death of his mother from cancer. After his mother’s disappearance, he suddenly started practicing religious rituals, abandoning all previous practices. Since then, he decided that life should be done not only for personal enjoyment but also for people! Allah has sent us as the greatest creation in the world for some purpose, and that purpose is to represent Allah in the world. Living according to God’s orders and working selflessly for people. From this goal he set a great goal, Imran Khan’s mother Shaukat Khanum was suffering from cancer and died suffering due to lack of cancer treatment in Pakistan. This grief shakes the entire being of Imran Khan! He then decided that he would build a modern cancer hospital in Pakistan which would be fully charitable. From that idea, he started the hospital building program before retiring from cricket and after retirement, he concentrated on building the hospital and established “Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital” in Lahore in the name of his mother in 1994.
He made the hospital entirely by accepting people’s donations! That’s why it took so many years. He used to travel all over Pakistan and receive donations from the common people of Pakistan by holding various road meetings and events. After doing this for many years, he began to understand the concept of “people’s politics”! While Imran Khan was a student of politics at Oxford, his wisdom and his visits to the general public across Pakistan at the hospital’s donation collection made him think differently about politics. In 1996, he founded his own political party named “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf” (PTI). Earlier in 1987, the then President General Ziaul Haque offered him to enter politics by joining the Pakistan Muslim League, but Imran Khan rejected the offer. Later, for Shaukat Khanam Hospital, free movement among the crowd, being able to read and understand the mentality of the common people brought him into politics! This politics is not a traditional politics but his politics is the politics of the people, the politics of welfare.
His political journey was more uneven than his cricketing journey! He has had to go through more ups and downs than cricket here. As in cricket he got the unwavering support of the whole country, it was not possible here! So naturally people’s slavish mindset and political miscreants obstructed him in various ways from the beginning. Yet leaving everything behind, surmounting all setbacks, pushing all obstacles on his feet, he went forward just as he would go forward to the pitch running with the ball in hand to break wickets! He had the habit of traveling all over the country, first he did it for the hospital, now he started for politics. People’s hospital to the people’s politics! His relentless work began to achieve a great goal. Imran Khan started his politics based on the original ideals of Pakistan. When Pakistan was founded, the pro-Pakistani movement used to chant slogans, “Pakistan ka matlabkya? La ilahaillallah!” Imran Khan took this “La IlahaIllallah” as the only ideology of his politics and started an unequal competition and uncertain course with his very own Pakistan Tehreek E Insaaf-PTI.
The politics of Pakistan is a little different than the politics of all countries in the world! Although there is political corruption, illegal interference, foreign influence here as in other countries, but the army is considered to be the most stakeholder in Pakistan’s politics. Imran Khan wrote in his autobiography that “Pakistan’s politics is based on 3 A’s i.e. Allah, Army, America!” This is the reality also. Imran Khan originally wanted to establish a real democracy by breaking this strange and illegal rule and make Pakistan a welfare state in the light of Madinah state as a Muslim country! From that effort, his choose the path in politics. He often says that “Allah gave me everything- money, respect, wealth everything. So, did I need to give up 26 years of my life for this politics? This is why I did this work because I think that as a human being, Allah has sent me with some responsibility, according to the ideals of my Prophet (PBUH), it is obligatory to do welfare politics for people! And since Pakistan is an Islamic state, I came into politics to make it a true Islamic welfare state. Allah has fulfilled all my dreams till date, inshallah he will do the same. But this dream will be fulfilled only when you the Pakistani people support me! Pakistan will be a state that will do justice to its name, emerge as a true Islamic welfare state, a public welfare, justice and public service state. This is the only reason I came to politics! I have no personal interest.”
It is to be noted that after coming into politics, when Imran Khan was facing various harms including death threats as part of Pakistani dirty politics, his wife and political partner Jemima Khan advised him to leave politics and move to England with her, but Imran Khan refused to do so. Because he did not agree, she broke up! That is, Imran Khan has to divorce his beloved wife only in the struggle to establish public welfare politics.
After a long political struggle of 22 years, Imran Khan finally became the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and after only three and a half years of sitting in the Masnad, he had to be ousted again in a parliamentary vote of no confidence. Although ousting is a very common occurrence in Pakistan, but the history of “Parliamentary No Confidence Vote” is the first! Perhaps it should be called unconstitutional. Both the Speaker of Parliament and the President rejected the “No Confidence Motion” twice on this unconstitutional pretext, but since the independent judiciary system of Pakistan, the “No Confidence Motion” was held on the orders of the Chief Justice and Imran Khan lost his majority and failed the no confidence motion as 24 MPs from his own party defected. Yes! This entire process is unprecedented in Pakistan. In the 75-year history of independence, none of the 22 Prime Ministers of this country could serve their full term, which is unique in the history of the whole world! Of these 22, several were assassinated, some resigned after being sued, some resigned on their own, and a significant number were interims. However, this is the first time that the vote of no confidence has been ousted! Imran Khan was an exceptional head of state in Pakistan, so his departure was also exceptional. But through this, Pakistan unfortunately remained in its old ways.
All the success of Imran Khan probably caught after 22 years of struggle! As he became the world champion captain after playing cricket for 22 years, he became the Prime Minister of the country after doing politics for 22 years! What a co incidence. However, after taking over as Prime Minister, he started to change the face of a nuclear power, Pakistan. He brought radical changes in almost all systems of the country! In education, health, food, trade, defense, economy, media, foreign policy, war against terror, he brought about a people-friendly change that many could not have imagined. He also became a world leader, which is a bit unimaginable for a Pakistani. In particular, he held himself in the leadership seat of the entire Muslim world! As the Prime Minister of Pakistan, this is the first time that a leader has literally raised his voice in the international arena for the oppressed Muslims. Islamophobia in the United Nations, including the Kashmir issue, he was very vocal about the overall issue of Muslims which gives him one of the most accepted leaders of the entire Muslim world. In addition, only one and a half years after his power, the global corona epidemic began! During this pandemic, Pakistan was one of the few countries that did not impose a single day of lockdown. In addition, Pakistan is one of the first 3 countries in the global Corona Survive Index which was possible under the prudent leadership of Imran Khan. Despite the huge shock to the post-corona economy, he overcame it very quickly and was getting the situation back on track. But so many successes may have become badluck for him! In the end he had to leave power at the hands of foreign conspiracies.
Pakistani heads of state are usually pro-American; Pakistan has been a strategic ally of America in almost all areas, including the war on terror. Basically, they use pressure on Pakistan, because Pakistan is a Muslim country, on top of that they are a country with nuclear power! As a result, America wants to keep them under control by putting them in various traps. Imran Khan was an exception in this place! He said that, “I will give priority to the interests of my country, the interests of my people. Then I will look at the pros and cons of others but my country is first”. He was independent from the very beginning, maintaining his individuality. While maintaining this identity, he had to wait 22 years to come to power, otherwise he would have seen the face of success much earlier. Apart from military rule, Pakistan’s politics is mainly controlled by 2 parties or 2 families, which is called ‘Dynasty Politics’. One is the “Pakistan People’s Party-PPP” party of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, his daughter Benazir Bhutto, Benazir’s husband Asif Ali Zardari and their son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Another is the party “Pakistan Muslim League (N)-PMLN” of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother and current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Apart from these two parties, almost all the other minor parties are affiliated with these two parties in one way or another. On the other hand, the only independent and largest party in Pakistan at the moment is Imran Khan’s “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)”.
The purpose of establishing this party is to establish individuality, justice, and to do people’s politics without self-interest! And so, Imran Khan had to face many obstacles to come to power alone. Perhaps this self-reliance was his curse, he became an eyesore for America as he eschewed a policy of condescension to America and was ousted by American intrigue. Giving no extra priority to America, Imran Khan increased relations with China and Russia, while trying to create a “Muslim Block” with other Muslim countries! As a result, America mobilized other flattering politicians with various inducements and bribed 24 of Imran’s MPs into an anti-Imran block, which resulted in Imran Khan losing his majority in parliament and resigning as prime minister. Although America has been denying all these allegations, Imran Khan has been repeatedly accusing America for the past 7 months! He says that America has such a good relationship with India; they are strategic allies of each other. But if India can trade with Russia, then why is it wrong if we do?! Are we the slaves of America or that we cannot go beyond their will? Incidentally, on the eve of the Ukraine-Russia war, Imran Khan visited Russia and held a meeting with President Putin on the day the war began to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement. And keeping this issue in front, America made their conspiracy a reality. It should be noted here that Imran Khan was not an eyesore of America from the beginning. Although Imran Khan has a good relationship with the Trump administration, but the Biden administration has been against Imran since the very beginning! It’s like Biden can’t tolerate Imran.
Now let’s talk about ‘Military’. Who are the biggest stakeholders in Pakistan’s politics so far! What is their role in the issue of Imran Khan? Let’s find out. Generally, The Pakistan Army comes to power only when there is a major political crisis or a warfare with India. History says so. However, the Army does not seize power except in major crises but certainly intervenes significantly. Since the motion of no confidence in Imran Khan is very new, many people were looking at the position of the army, including Imran Khan himself. But to everyone’s surprise, Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa commented that “Pakistan’s political problems are the responsibility of the Government of Pakistan! We want to remain ‘NEUTRAL’ without interfering in this issue!”
Such a comment by the army chief of a country like Pakistan is a bit unusual. Because in a country where no Prime Minister has ever been in power for his full term, but almost all military rulers have been in power for a long time, no one would think that a successor of those rulers would refuse to interfere in politics! It is said that it was the army that brought Imran Khan to power and General Qamar JavedBajwa, the army chief was given a second term by Prime Minister Imran Khan. General Bajwa’s declaration of neutrality when Imran was being ousted has also changed many equations. However, Imran Khan was not disturbed by such non-cooperative action of the military, according to him, he knew about this conspiracy 6 months before. He was waiting for the army and the judiciary, which together he called the “establishment”, that establishment might put a stop to this injustice.
But when they adopted a silent role, Imran Khan immediately left the parliament with his leaders and MPs and went straight to the streets! Started a deadly movement, has been doing “peaceful protest” for the last 7 months against this “foreign conspiracy”. Even as I am writing, I am listening to Imran Khan’s live speech from his ongoing Long March! Imran Khan has started touring the country again in this movement that has been going on for more than 7 months demanding early elections, has already held more than 100 rallies in more than 50 cities. The general public has responded to these movements unprecedentedly! Discussions with various civil society, students, youth, lawyers are going in front of everyone. A long march towards Islamabad was held in May, but the current illegitimate regime exposed its fascist face in that event. Imran Khan was forced to return that day due to the massive blood loss of the common people and after long preparations, the long march towards Islamabad started again on October 28, which is still ongoing! Maybe Imran Khan would have already reached Islamabad with a sea of ​​people, but on November 3, Imran Khan was shot at in his convoy with the intention of killing him! Miraculously he survived but was shot in the leg, with a total of 4 bullets in both legs. But he was undeterred by being shot, was stationed on the roof of the container, got down from there with the help of his colleagues and waved to the crowd before getting into his car! Received greetings, then left for his hospital in Lahore in his own car. Despite being shot in the assassination attempt, he never once lost consciousness, but was constantly worried about his movement from the ICU. He even convened an emergency meeting of senior party leaders in his hospital room the very next morning and addressed the nation live online that evening! He ordered his long march to continue without his physical presence and intended to deliver live speeches on digital screens every day at the rally, as he had to remain bedridden. Even so, he announced on Saturday, November 19, after a meeting with his doctors, that he would leave the house and that he would be present on Friday, November 26, when his Long March convoy arrived in Rawalpindi! It may seem incredible to the common eye, but perhaps this is the characteristic of Imran Khan. From the time of cricket, till now he has succeeded to fulfill almost all the goals he has set. His goal this time is to free Pakistan from all slavery, free it from all foreign lords, establish Pakistan as an independent nation in front of the world arena and for this he is ready to give up his life!
I mentioned above that Imran Khan wrote in his autobiography, “Pakistani politics is based on 3 ‘A’s i.e. Allah, Army, America!” He wants to break this taboo at any cost. He wants the people of Pakistan to decide who will come to power in Pakistan. By the will of Allah and with the support of the Army and America, Imran Khan came to power but he had public support, and his aim was to serve the people. As a result, he had to be deposed again by the will of Allah and with the patronage of the Army and America. But this time the fight is different and much stronger than before, Imran Khan is going to come to power only with the help of Allah and the undivided support of the people! Imran Khan and his party won 75% of the seats by participating in the by-elections held after the ouster, which is rare in history! In addition, Tehreek-e-Insaaf won the provincial assembly elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and formed the regional government! Currently, PTI is in government in 4 of Pakistan’s 7 provinces, while the remaining 3 are in the role of the main opposition party. It has already been proven that the people of Pakistan are with Imran Khan! Imran Khan could have obeyed the foreign powers, joined hands with the anti-nationals and easily returned to power or retained the masnad. By doing this, he would not have any difficulty, but he could also achieve his own interests. But not doing any of these proves Imran Khan’s commitment to his ideals. He does not want to implement his desire to establish the ideal of ‘La IlahaIllallah’ and build a welfare state on its model by any illegal means. No matter how hard it is, no matter how much struggle it takes, he will not give up his ideals and completely replace a sick and dirty system to build a just society, where there’s ideals, there is justice, there is welfare, above all the needs of the common people will prevail. Although the political system of Pakistan is completely opposite to this ideal, Imran Khan wants to reform it and gain the pleasure of Allah! He is always ready to make any sacrifice in return.
On the other hand, the overall condition of the Pakistan state is very fragile after the Imran Khan’s ousting. Pakistan’s dire situation in this difficult time of global economic recession! Rupee has depreciated by almost 1.5 times against the dollar, reserves are empty, IMF is refusing to give loans, exports are down, factories are closed, imports are not available due to lack of resources in reserves, expatriates are not sending remittances in protest as Imran Khan is forced to oust! However, during Imran Khan’s time, record remittance and tax collection and record exports were recorded, but now the picture is completely opposite! On the other hand, due to the re-ascension of leaders accused of corruption, the overall activities of the country have been disrupted more than usual. Because Imran Khan had zero tolerance against corruption, there will be a natural collapse due to the return of the corrupt. The army which removed Imran Khan silently, they are forced to think again considering the overall situation of the country, even though they are moving against Imran Khan in the continuous movement of Imran Khan. With the return of the current corrupt government, the situation has become so fragile that people’s normal living is disrupted! Pakistan is going through a very turbulent time due to rising commodity prices, political intolerance etc. In such a situation, the general people of the country already understood that there’s no other way for their liberation except Imran Khan, above everything they are now supporting Imran Khan unstintingly. So, the Army and America are also forced to think again about Imran Khan, although the situation is not sure which way it will turn out in the end, but it can be said that the ball is still in Imran’s court. Let’s see if he can finally win, if he can finally fulfill his dream but there is a fact that we already know how terrible Imran Khan’s “comeback” is through cricket. After the successful comeback of cricket, this is the high time of his political “comeback”! But as always, this time too, it can be said with certainty that his comeback will be very terrible.
Imran Khan as the Chief Guest at the “75th Independence Day” celebrations organized by PTI on August 14th at the Lahore Hockey Stadium delivered the speech where He said, “On the earlier of independence, Allama Iqbal called Quaid-e-Azam from London and brought him to Pakistan, telling him that without you there was no viable leadership among the Muslims for the Pakistan movement. So, you please stay here to lead them. Quaid-e-Azam stayed and started his political struggle. Then one of his friends from London asked him that ‘Mr. Jinnah, why did you leave the life of so much comfort in London and choose this uncertain life of struggle?’. Then Mr. Jinnah replied, “I want my Allah to tell me when I go to him after my death,”Well done Mr. Jinnah! At least you have tried your best.” This is what I want!’
Inspired by my leader Quaid-e-Azam, 26 years ago today, before I entered politics, I decided that when I go to my Allah, he will say to me “Well done Imran! You have established your nation on La IlahaIllallah! !!” May Allah accept me…”
The writer of this article is a student of Jagannath University.